Tag: Missouri

Thomas Jackson has held fast to his post as chief of the embattled Ferguson, Mo., Police Department despite a constant chorus of calls for his resignation following the Aug. 9, 2014, shooting of an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, by Officer Darren Wilson. That’s apparently about to change.

Truthdig Editor-in-Chief Robert Scheer and the other “Left, Right & Center” panelists discuss U.S. nuclear negotiations with Iran, Hillary Clinton’s secluded State Department emails, and a Justice Department report showing systemic racial abuse in law enforcement and legal practices in Ferguson, Mo.

Just a day after the news broke that the Justice Department had found evidence of racist practices within the Ferguson, Mo., Police Department, the DOJ released a report claiming that, by its own estimation, Officer Darren Wilson was motivated by personal safety concerns when he shot and killed the unarmed teenager Michael Brown.

The national discussion about race relations and police brutality that intensified last summer with the police killings of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and others is continuing with the news that a Department of Justice investigation has found evidence of racial bias within the Police Department in Ferguson, Missouri.

The recent ruling by a St. Louis grand jury on Michael Brown’s shooting sheds light on just how difficult it is to indict a cop; the apocalypse may have something to do with indifference toward climate change; meanwhile, a teacher uses a scrap of paper to teach his students a valuable lesson about inequality and privilege. These discoveries and more after the jump.

At an event of mass protest Sunday, young black Americans grew frustrated and angry at an older generation’s peaceful response to the killing of Missouri teenager Michael Brown by police, exposing a generational divide over how best to confront police racism, brutality and excessive force.

Although the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Mo., happened less than two months ago, that event transformed the community and put the spotlight on issues of race relations and police brutality in the U.S. for all the world to see.

He’s spent almost six years guiding the Justice Department through some tricky terrain—think Benghazi, Ferguson and DOMA—and Thursday, Eric Holder made it known he is preparing to exit his position as U.S. attorney general.

Footage of the moments immediately after the fatal shooting of black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., in August shows a witness on the scene saying the unarmed 18-year-old’s hands were raised when he was killed.

Well over 1,000 people peacefully marched through Ferguson on Saturday, some going door to door in prosecutor Robert McCulloch’s neighborhood to demand he be removed or recuse himself. There are calls for shutting down highways on Labor Day.

Truthdig Editor-in-Chief Robert Scheer and the other “Left, Right & Center” panelists discuss the movement of Russian artillery into Ukrainian territory, President Obama’s golfing amid news of journalist James Foley’s beheading, the National Guard leaving Missouri, Rick Perry’s indictment and the ice bucket challenge.

Kajieme Powell, 25, was described as “behaving erratically” and carrying a knife Tuesday when officers arrived at a St. Louis sidewalk where he stood after allegedly stealing two cans of soda from a nearby store. A bystander’s video seems to show police officers firing 12 shots in rapid succession as Powell slumps to the ground.

Police brutality against black men has become a shockingly common phenomenon in the U.S. The names of those who have died at the hands of law enforcement or their unofficial vigilante deputies over the past few years are too numerous to count.

What does Ferguson, Mo., look like from afar right now? For some overseas critics of American foreign policy, it looks like a teachable moment to point out how the U.S. would do better to confront its own issues at home instead of policing the rest of the world.

The face-off between police and protesters in and around Ferguson, Mo., continued Tuesday, with tensions further kindled by reports of another police shooting and by more details about slain teenager Michael Brown.

As Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon ordered National Guard troops into Ferguson, a preliminary autopsy revealed that police shot teen Michael Brown six times. Amnesty International ordered a delegation to monitor developments, and a local pastor called for the police chief’s resignation after department leaks muddied clarity of the lead-up to the teen’s death.

“The New York Times reporter James Risen, who faces jail over his refusal to reveal a source and testify against a former CIA agent accused of leaking secrets, has called President Barack Obama ‘the greatest enemy of press freedom in a generation,’ ” The Guardian reports.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans watched over the course of a week as military-style police tear gassed a community in mourning, chased them with rubber bullets, and abused and arrested reporters. This is an opportunity to advance the cause of transforming law enforcement.

Riot police dispersed protesters with rubber bullets and tear gas in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Mo., on Wednesday night. Among 16 people arrested were two journalists, Wesley Lowery of The Washington Post and Ryan Reilly of The Huffington Post.

While acknowledging the outrage that followed the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., on Saturday after the unarmed teenager was shot in a police car by a still-unnamed police officer, on Tuesday activists like the Rev. Al Sharpton emphasized the need for calm and justice as the case is investigated.

At halftime during a basketball game Saturday, Mizzou students and spectators gave a rousing ovation to their star footballer Michael Sam, who is widely expected to become the first openly gay NFL player when he is inevitably drafted in May.

A 70-year-old Missouri court clerk who was just nine months short of retirement thought she was doing the right thing by helping to secure a DNA test that exonerated a man who had served years in prison for a rape he insisted he did not commit. Instead, she was terminated by the court she had worked at for 34 years because it said she had violated rules about assisting a party in a case.

“The lady on the phone said they could transfer my daughter and said her boobs were so large she will always get teased,” the teen’s mother said. “And the only suggestion she had for me is to have my daughter get a breast reduction.”

Claire McCaskill was considered one of the Democrats most likely to lose her seat in the 2012 election race. That is, until her Republican opponent Todd Akin opened his mouth during a television interview and the infamous words came out.

A Missouri pastor delivers an impassioned speech before the Springfield City Council in which he appears to be making the case against amending the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance to add protection for sexual orientation and gender identity. But then, something unexpected happens.